Internet addiction in high school and university students: An evaluation in terms of various psychological, social and personal variables

The purpose of this research was to examine internet addiction among high school and university students in terms of interpersonal relationships, automatic thoughts and problem-solving skills. The sample of the study comprised a total of 480 participants: 195 (40.6%) high school and 285 (59.4%) university students. Females constituted 53.3% (256) of the participants and males 46.7% (224). In addition to a Personal Information Form, the Interpersonal Relationship Styles Scale, Automatic Thoughts Scale, Problem Solving Inventory and Internet Addiction Scale, for which validity, reliability and adaptation studies were performed, were used for data collection. A significant difference was determined between the groups with no or limited symptoms of internet addiction in terms of inhibitory interpersonal relationship styles, automatic thoughts and problem-solving skills. Inhibitory interpersonal relationships, automatic thoughts and problem-solving skills were identified as predictive of internet addiction.

Use of Mitoxantrone in Early Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: An Observational Study of 48 Patients with Clinical and MRI Outcomes

OBJECTIVE: To report the clinical follow-up, side effects, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of mitoxantrone treatment in patients in the early phase of secondary progressive and exacerbating relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. METHODS: Patients that completed and/or were undergoing treatment between 2001 and 2008 were included in the study. All patients were definitive progressive multiple sclerosis patients and met ‘non-responder’ criteria for immunomodulatory the- rapy. They did not have active infection, cardiac disease, or any contraindication for immunosuppressive treatment. Baseline comp- lete blood count, liver function tests, and transthoracic echocardiography were performed. Mitoxantrone was given as induction the- rapy (1 dose per month for 3 months) and then as maintenance therapy (with 3 month periods, 12 mg/m2 until to the cumulative dose was reached). Patients were followed-up regularly for the appearance of any side effects. RESULTS: The study included 33 female and 15 male patients. Mean age was 36.6 ± 7.8 years, mean disease duration was 9.38 ± 4.8 years, mean expanded disease severity scale (EDSS) score was 5.8, and mean treatment duration was 11.16 ± 7.4 months. Fol- lowing the end of treatment, 17 patients were stabilized, 10 improved, and 14 progressed. There were no side effects observed du- ring or after treatment in 16 patients. Among the other 32 patients, the observed side effects were as follows: nausea (n= 18), per- manent leucopenia (n= 1), transient thrombocytopenia (n= 4), alopecia (n= 13), neutropenic fever (n= 1), and amenorrhea (n= 18). MRI follow-up was performed in a subgroup of patients and showed that the lesion loads were stabilized. CONCLUSION: We reported the efficacy, and clinical and MRI follow-up results of multiple sclerosis patients treated with mitoxantro- ne. Patient selection and therapy timing was very important for maximum efficacy. Patients that responded to mitoxantrone treat- ment benefited beginning with the induction phase and their disability was limited or improve